Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are going to be a follow-up on a moratorium that was brought forth to us earlier or actually towards the end of our last session. It is for the Minister of Housing in regards to the short-term moratorium on evictions due to public housing arrears. I just want to get an update from the Minister on how many tenants were in arrears or actually getting caught up on their rental payments. Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was recently a meeting held in Yellowknife with all the LHO managers across the Northwest Territories. One of the items discussed was the moratorium. At the time, it was noted that of the 20 people that were facing eviction, none of them have actually come forward and entered into a repayment plan. It is not going as well as we would have liked. We have two months left. We are hoping there is not a rush at the end and hoping that people start dealing with it right now. That way, we are not faced with mass evictions come April 1st. Thank you.
As the Minister stated, we have less than two months to get our orders in place here to have more tenants get their orders in place and get caught up on their arrears or come into a payment plan. Has the department looked at an action plan to help these tenants who are in arrears to get into an action plan to get their payments back on schedule? Thank you.
In communicating with tenants of the public housing portfolio, they were asked to come into the LHO and work out a repayment plan. I am not sure if we are following up with that, but right now the opportunity is there for them to work with our LHOs, enter into repayment plans and honour them, and come April 1st there is a possibility that they would be able to stay in their units. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as stated in the moratorium, on April 1, 2012, the NWTHC will once again be carrying out its evictions. We have a number of tenants who have not got into a payment plan. Is the Minister of Housing committed to possibly having their LHOs go out and speak with these individuals? In some cases we may have some individuals who have some language barriers or some mobility issues. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we would do the best we can to try and work with all of these tenants, those with language barriers. We are more than willing to work with them so they understand the whole process. The same thing goes with mobility issues. If there are mobility issues, we are more than willing to work with them.
Again, we have a lot of tenants that don’t face these challenges. The onus is on them to come into the LHOs and try and work out repayment. Part of the duties of our LHOs is they try to communicate with the tenants as much as possible. This is one of those cases where the tenants would be wise to come into the LHOs. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This last question deals with the tenants that have not gone into a repayment plan. Do we have a number of tenants across the Northwest Territories who will possibly become evicted April 1st that will result in some of our other programs being accessed such as income support? Does he have a number of tenants that are possibly going to be evicted come April 1st? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, right now we stand at about 20. The number was at 36. We are at 20 right now. There could possibly be more. We are encouraged by the fact that there were many people that were non-payers, as far as rent goes, before this moratorium came into place. A lot of them are actually stepping up to the plate and entering into repayment plans or working with their LHOs. There has been some positive news come out of this. Those that have always paid their rent are continuing to pay their rent. There has been some positive come out of this, but again we are hoping we are not facing mass evictions come April 1st because we have given people every opportunity to come in and enter into a repayment plan. Unfortunately, it is not working out the way we would have liked. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
